This invention relates generally to sighting devices for firearms, archery bows, or other projectile launching devices, and more particularly to a front sight for a firearm that is illuminated with a light collector, such as a fluorescent-doped fiber optic.
Sighting devices using short segments of light gathering fiber optics, such as scintillating or fluorescent-doped fiber optics, are currently in use. Such fiber optics gather ambient light along their length and transmit that light to their ends. Under ideal lighting conditions, one end of the fiber optic typically serves as a bright aiming point, the brightness being directly dependent on the level of ambient light incident on the length of fiber optic. However, the short segments of fiber optic have a limited light gathering ability. Under very low lighting conditions, such as at late dusk or early dawn, the sight point may not have sufficient brightness to satisfy some users. In order to augment the brightness of the sight point under these conditions, artificial light sources such as battery-operated LED's or tritium-type devices have been proposed.
As an alternative to such devices, the fiber optic may be coiled to increase the light gathering length of the fiber optic, and thus the brightness of the sight point. However, such a prior art arrangement typically includes a sharp transition or bend between the coiled section and a section of the fiber optic mounted to a sight pin. Light loss at the sharp bend results in an inefficient transfer of light from the coil section to the sight point, requiring a longer length of fiber optic to illuminate a sight point with less than anticipated brightness. It would therefore be desirable to provide a self-illuminating sighting device that overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.